Bloodbath cops had bullet vests

2006-08-22 20:45

Johannesburg - The four policemen who were shot dead during the Jeppestown shooting in June were wearing bulletproof vests, said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula this week.

Replying to a question in parliament, Nqakula said the four who were killed, as well as the two police officials who were wounded, wore bulletproof vests.

In the five years ending in December last year, the police had spent almost R216m on bullet proof vests, buying 68 539.

Of these, almost 5 000 were at the police's head office in Pretoria, just over 8 000 were in the Western Cape, 8 397 in the Eastern Cape and almost 2 000 in the Northern Cape.

30 000 going without

The Free State had just more than 3 800 bulletproof vests, the North West just over 6 100, Mpumalanga almost 4 000 and Limpopo 5 336.

The highest number of bulletproofs were deployed in KwaZulu-Natal, where more than 11 000 were in use and Gauteng where more than 15 000 were being used.

A total of 30 294 police still did not have bulletproof vests, but would be supplied with them in this financial year.

- SAPA